Back with a Bioshock

Well, taken the last couple of weeks off modding to enjoy the summer and do some real life stuff. To be honest, I had spent so much time in the toolset over the last few months that I needed a bit of a break, not just from modding but from the computer itself.

Anyhow, I am back at modding now and I think part of the reason is the amazing game 'Bioshock'. Now, I am a bit of an experienced (read jaded) gamer, and it takes a lot to impress me. Whilst Bioshock certainly has it's faults, it is the first game in many years to keep me up 'till dawn with the 'just one more level' effect.

Warning - there are some light spoilers in the following. You would find them out in the first 10 minutes of play though, so the plot shouldn't be ruined for anyone.

Probably the best single aspect is the audio direction and quality. So many games skimp on sounds and music, and end up with cheesy bad voice overs and inappropriate scoring. Instead here the sounds add a huge amount, really portraying the 1950's huge underwater city of Rapture in the midst of disaster.

Talking about the atmosphere of Rapture, the graphics and level design further enhance this, with constant leaks and grindings and the various little details portraying a city populated by madmen. Whilst many other recent FPS offerings have a similar quality in graphics, here they are all congruent providing a consistent feel to the inside of this sunken asylum.

And the asylum is filled with some great characters. With ambient activities and a variety of conversation even the generic minions are raised above the norm, provoking pity even as you are forced to kill them. Indeed, the plot backs this up with both radio contact and tape logs filling in the history and eventual fate of a number of victims of the failed idealism of the underwater city. Ryan, the visionary and creator of the city is himself an inspired masterpiece, provoking both sympathy for his cause and disgust at his eventual methods - definitely a contender for the best realized game villain ever.

Each of the above would have been a good thing on it's own, but the true triumph of Bioshock is the way that they all fit together into a whole that is (even) better than the parts. Sure there are some faults - It requires a powerful computer to run well, and the game mechanics are in places unbalanced or over-simplistic. The last third of the game feels a bit rushed, with a drop in story quality, and a number of niggling plot incongruities. These are just minor issues though, and any gamer whom is not physically allergic to FPS's should give Bioshock a go.

There was a discussion over at Maerduin's blog about if games could constitute art. I think this game is a definite candidate to change doubters minds.

Anyhow, back to modding this week, although I have a lot of RL stuff still going on.

Sun, Sand and erm... not modding.

Just thought I would come on and give a quick update.

The last week saw an unexpected turn for the better in the weather department. In fact, it is the first decent week we have had this 'Summer' in Blighty. Rather than be the pastey-white computer nerd with no sense of style (or humor) , I decided to get a tan.

As a result, not much progress to report - although I did get a preview of some of the custom content I wanted to use and it is sounding great. Back to modding as soon as the good weather gives up!

Mini Spotlight

Ok, I know I said I would do a mid week update, but it is sunny outside and I was snowed under in work! Anyhow, as the Obsidian art contest is progressing well, I thought I would use this blog as an excuse to highlight my favorite entry so far.

This entry by Hellcow/Spajk really hits the spot for me. Not only is the art good and the characters immediately identifiable, but unlike any of the other entries I have seen as of yet, it portrays the character of the NPC, as well as the look.

Also, big worshipness to Berliad for helping promote this contest, yet again proving a valuable asset to the community. Obsidian itself has done a lot better on promotion than on the module contest (which I am still mildly annoyed at - Grrr...) hopefully the official judging for the art contest will be good as well.

A decent week of progress this week. However, I have fallen victim to the horrible little ' Mr. Scope Creep' and the prolog is turning out to be much more expansive than I have originally intended. The extra work is within the main story flow though, so it has a high bang-for-buck. Also, since it deals with the core characters, it should hopefully flesh them out.

I also managed to find a day to go back and update 'Cry Wolf'. I didn't think I was going to do any more updates to it, but it became apparent that there were some nasty bugs that I had missed - and I took the opportunity to balance and polish a few other bits while I fixed them.

Having gone back over my 'Cry Wolf' work, I can defiantly say that PS:Legacy is a couple of steps up in quality on all levels. No time for pictures at the moment, will post something more expansive mid-week.

Weekly Update

Real Life has sapped up a lot of my time and energy this week, but not in a bad way (excepting lack of modding time). The only progress completed was some polish to the hide and seek segment spotlighted last week, which is working quite nicely now.

Such is the way with long personal projects, other stuff pushes in and steals the time away. Next week I should have less work though, so lots more modding time (so I hope!).

As a note, I did also manage to find a couple of hours to play the alpha build of Dark Avenger by Wyrind. Whilst it still needs a little clean up here and there, it is overall really nice - especially the open roaming nature that somewhat reminds me of BG1. I think even released as-is the module would hit a good position in the top module charts, and it is only Alpha so-far! Definitely one to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: I think the Dark Avenger release is final now!

Weekly Update

Has it really been a week already? Between work and other Real Life stuff I have been so busy this week and it has really just passed me by. I did manage to fit in some modding though, building about five minutes of gameplay for the prolog.

The prolog charts the early years of the PCs life, but just because the PC is placed as a character with a preset past, it doesn't mean they can't have any choice about things! As an example, one of the early parts of the prolog has the PC playing a game of hide and seek.

As the screenshot shows, there is quite a choice for PCs in different motivations. I decided early on that I wanted to move away from alignments towards a more organic style of choices. This frees me from the need to write the classic (and somewhat predictable) player choices, and opens up a more free-form way for players of alignment restricted classes to play. Basically, you play the character, not the alignment.

In other news, I decided to set the prolog within the Forgotten Realms, rather than a generic setting. After a quick question over at the weave , I decided on Yulash area just before the Time of Troubles which gives me a juicy background for town banter and such.

I have another busy week next week, but should hopefully get at least half way through the prolog build. No featured area this week, so a couple more shots of hide and seek instead (yeah, I know I am lazy!).

Weekly Update

With the completion of the final exterior prolog area, all the map building should be complete now. Of course, I will need to do some clean-up and possibly a few walkmesh changes for playtesting but area build is largely done now.


For myself writing dialog and area building are the most time consuming parts, so with the build out of the way and quite a bit of dialog already written I should be able to churn out some actual gameplay next week.

As I have made some mid week posts on the prolog, I wont highlight another area this week. Instead I have attached a few shots from the opening cutscenes and a couple more shots of the completed prolog area.

Mini update

As regular readers (are there any?) will know from my entries, I have been working on the prolog for the last couple of weeks. This Tuesday, I finished off the non-interactive part of this. I am now working on the interactive part, which makes up perhaps 10% of the module (about 20 minutes play time). All the interiors for this section are already built, and I am now working on the final outdoors piece. This is coming on really really nicely, and I thought I would show off what I have so far, as I think this area is by far the most visually attractive I have made yet.

It also features some nifty toolset tricks, but you will have to wait to see what they are!

Weekly update on Sunday.

Feature Highlight - two gameplay modes

Its no secret that I like hard games, and my first module release highlighted this with its tactical combat and cryptic puzzles.

However from the feedback I received, it soon became apparent that not all people play games for the same reasons, some like a more relaxing ride. Not willing to sacrifice making a game I would want to play, I decided to integrate two different modes into Planescape Legacy. The first mode is story mode that has easier battles. The second mode is challenge , with harder fights and a score tracker that will allow you to post to a high-score board at the end of the game. So PS:Legacy should have something on offer for everyone!

Weekly Update:

Have been feeling a bit drained this week, but still managed to find a bit of time to do some modding. Still working on the prelude at the moment, but it is shaping up really nicely. Should have this completed by next weeks update.

Part of the reason it is taking so long is this section is very cutscene heavy. Whilst it is easy to construct the gist of these in your head, transforming this into a reality that matches your ideas is a time consuming process of tweaking and re-testing.

The good news is that the rest of the module has far fewer cutscenes, so things should start rolling at a faster pace after this. The area spotlight for this week is The Lady's ward detailed below.